Background on the Sheffield Plan

We are working on a new Local Plan (The Sheffield Plan) which will guide the future of the city by setting out how and where development will take place up to 2039.

We previously consulted on an Issues and Options document ("Sheffield Plan: Our City, Our Future - Issues and Options 2020" in September/October 2020).

We then progressed to the next formal stage known as Regulation 19 (Publication).  Consultation on this document took place during January and February 2023. The Regulation 19 Draft Sheffield Plan document was submitted to central government for examination in public.

We submitted a Draft Plan to Central Government in October 2023 and a series of public hearings where Sheffield residents and businesses were able to have an input took place between May and November 2024.

Why do we need a Local Plan?

The plan, once adopted, will set out new standards for future development in Sheffield, such as higher environmental standards to reduce carbon emissions and better space standards for new homes. It will help the city deliver more affordable housing, support regeneration and new investment, preserve our heritage areas, and enable more coordinated delivery of infrastructure, including planning for future health and community services. 

Any site proposed within the Local Plan will have to pass several ‘golden rules’ before any housing can be built on it. These rules include sites having affordable housing included in them, 30% in the South, Southwest and Northwest of the city and 10% in all other areas, and new infrastructure must be delivered at the same time as the new homes and employment developments. Sites will also need good access to green spaces with developers expected to demonstrate an increase of 10% in biodiversity.

Why parts of Sheffield’s Green Belt had to be considered

In 2024, Independent Government Inspectors held a series of public hearings looking into the detail of the Local Plan, which proposed continuing the Council’s Brownfield First policy, with the vast majority of all development on brownfield sites.  It did not propose building on any greenfield Green Belt land. 

As a result of the hearings, the Council received a letter in February 2025 from the Inspectors asking for additional land to be found for a further 3,539 homes, above the 34,680 proposed, and an increase in employment land. 

The Inspectors accepted the Council’s rationale around the need to regenerate the urban areas and focus growth in the centre of Sheffield but also recognised that releasing some Green Belt land could help to meet a wider range of housing needs, including the need for affordable housing. 

The Council has explored every option before considering the release of any Green Belt for development. However, it was determined that there are no more available brownfield sites left to allocate which means that in exceptional circumstances, a small number of green belt sites are being considered. The sites account for only 3.6% of the land currently allocated as green belt, which means that over 96% of the Green Belt will remain untouched and protected. 

The public will now have a chance to have their say on the proposals.

What happens next?

All the consultation feedback will be considered by the Government Inspectors - the feedback will not come back to the Council again for consideration.